Terraced/semi - how thin are your walls?

[Trulyatraditionalman]

I rent a very small 2 Victorian terrace. The walls are so thin, you can hear talking from next door and the occasional clear word (if the voice is raised). I know his is all part and parcel of living in a period terraced house. HOWEVER. New neighbour has just moved in (guy in his mid 30s) and was obviously keen to "christen" the house with his girlfriend this morning, so I just woke up to them having rather loud sex! Off to purchase some earplugs...

Just wondering, is this standard of most Victorian terraced houses? If you live in a terraceded/semi, how much can you hear your neighbours?

YABU - Can't hear much
YANBU - Can hear conversations and more

I live in a 70s semi and can hear our neighbour when she yells at her kid or when she’s playing music (she yells at Alexa too!) but I think she is particularly loud. We previously lived in a 1900s semi and the noise carried awfully in there, our neighbour wasn’t particularly noisy but I could hear her plug her hoover in and when she walked up the stairs it sounded like someone was walking up our stairs, that took a long time to get used to!

We live in a Victorian terrace (although ours is converted into two flats) and you can hear a lot. My daughters bedroom is on the otherside of the wall to next doors kitchen so can always hear them loading the dishwasher when I put her to bed lol.

I don’t mind my neighbours on either side as the noise they make is just normal daily living noise, but upstairs are always fighting or having loud sex or blasting shite music and I hate them!

I live in a 60’s ex council terrace. I think the walls are made of concrete. I can occasionally hear next doors hoover and some random bangs every now and again but that’s it.

We’ve got two small children and I apologised in advance when we moved in if we were noisy and to let me know so that we can make the effort not to disturb them, she told me they’re both deaf and will just turn her hearing aid off if she’s bothered by the noise and to let the kids crack on.

Terraced 1970s can’t hear much either side- sometimes some walking up stairs, but nothing considering I’m a mid terrace

I think my house is 30s.

The walls are so thin. We can hear the neighbours talking, coughing etc. It’s awkward as fuck going to bed and hearing them come up to bed at almost the same time. They definitely hear my husband farting

Our semi is about 30 years old and you can hear loads. You can hear the drone of voices, occasional clear words, next door coughing, hoovering, music, the washing machine, microwave beeping, when they turn water on. This is why we are moving to a detached house next month.

I live in an old miners cottage and on one side the wall is thick. Would never know I had a neighbour that way. The other side has really thin walls and I can hear talking if it's loud voices. Strangely I find it reassuring to know that there's people there but like you I have also heard noises I really didn't need to be hearing!!

Victorian terrace- depends where people are really. I can hear next door in their hall and on the stairs and the other side in their living room sometimes (although it has been party central the last few weeks so different voices are more noticeable). Rarely too loud, though I am quite tolerant of neighbourly noise as I think i am probably quite loud myself.

We live in a pre 1850s mid terraced house.
One neighbour we can't hear at all. The other side is a very elderly lady, when we are sat without the TV on we can hear her TV word for word, we also hear her phone and an alarm that I guess she pulls if she's fallen over or needs her carer. (That one panics me)

Forgot to mention that my head board is the other side of the wall to NDN head board. My previous NDN was a quiet old lady but I could hear her fart!

I play an instrument so I'm always conscious of that. I'd prefer the NDN to make some noise so I'm not the only one... But the sex is a bit much

Post war mid terrace
We hear it all from both sides
Walking up stairs, flushing the toilet, TV, gaming, kids playing and getting told off and yes sex noises
I've always just accepted its life.
Usually I work long hrs and am not here to hear it.

My Mum lived in a ground floor 70s built Council retirement flat. She could hear the bloke upstairs having a wee.

We live in a detached bungalow, neighbours are a field away so no adjoining walls. We've been decorating an ex-rental that happens to be the first house I ever bought 39 years ago. It's a 1930s terrace and it seems like you can hear everything through the walls. Strangely I didn't notice it when I lived there, I guess I was used to it having previously lived in a 1960s council link house.

30s terrace. I’m somewhere in between your two options. Generally don’t hear much but if there are raised voices I can sometimes hear words. It’s only very occasional though and not antisocial noise so it doesn’t bother me.

I used to live in a Victorian terrace and could barely hear anything - the walks were very thick. The only sound we ever heard was their toddler running with truck/walker down their hallway which had a wooden floor.

Just to throw a random one into the mix: I live in a new build terrace. I was terrified because you always hear horror stories about sound proofing from new builds, can honestly say I've only ever heard the neighbours if they are hammering or drilling (DIY). And even then it's only faint.

Mid terrace. I can hear EVERYTHING and unfortunately have noisy arseholes next door.

1960s terrace.
I can hear my neighbours dishwasher when they load it weirdly. And their music and I can't decide whether they drill into walls regularly or have a coffee grinder. It keeps my DD awake anyway.

They stuck an arsey note through my door about our shouting. (At least I parent my children instead of getting wasted ). We are very different.

Oh to add I used to live in a Victorian semi and I could hear my next door neighbours radio through the wall clear as day.

I used to live in a mid 1800s 2-up-2-down type railway worker cottage. The side with the chimney - couldn’t hear a thing. The other side:

• snoring
• sex
• conversations word for word
• the sound of a teaspoon stirring in a cup of tea

The walls were plaster and lathe (? Not sure of spelling).

1950s terrace I grew up in - baby crying, children screaming, children getting yelled at, but none of that was all the time. Also coughing, which was rather helpful as we got our elderly neighbour medical help sometimes.

Terraced house built 1995. I hear them moving around, as it sounds like they are in my house. And this year I've occasionally heard toddler type sounds. But I'm pretty sure their is no child there. It's a student house. But apart from that absolutely nothing.

We live in a Victorian semi and the only thing we can hear from our neighbours is their grandfather clock which is right against the wall. Our neighbour says she can just about hear our piano when it's played, she turns the tv off to listen because she likes it. (Phew)

We used to live in a Edwardian terrace - one neighbour we never heard, the other you could only hear if we were both on the stairs and if their teenagers were shouting(on the stairs, whist stomping to their rooms)

I think age of the building isn't always a signifier of how much noise travels sometimes it's just shoddy building. My mums house is 20yrs old and has paper thin walls, it's 'detached' (just) and you can hear the neighbours really well.

We live in an ex-LA semi. The walls are too thin 😥 Next door are a couple with a 2.5 year old and a 9 month old. They cry all the time. The parents shout at the kids all the time. Last week it was ‘shut the fuck up’ We’ve also heard them shagging so maybe they’ll be another one. This is part of the reason we’re moving next year and the only properties we’re looking at will be detached 😂

Previously lived in a Victorian terraced and never heard anything from next door. Now in a 1930s semi and occasionally hear next door's TV but that's all. Think I've been lucky by the sounds of it.

We have a 1960's mid-terrace and hardly hear anything from our neighbours. We hear the odd bit of DIY and the vacuum cleaner on the one side. My Mom lives in a semi-detached house built the same year and you can hear everything from her neighbours.